[REVIEW] Sleeping Giants

title: Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1)
author: Sylvain Neuvel
genre: science fiction
publish: April 26, 2016 by Del Rey
purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
rating: 4.5 / 5 stars
goodreads

A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.

Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved -- its origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Its carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected. 

But some can never stop searching for answers. 

Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top secret team to crack the hand's code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the provenance of the relic. What's clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unraveling history's most perplexing discover -- and figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result prove to b an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction? 

An inventive debut in the tradition of World War Z and The Martian, told in interviews, journal entries, transcripts, and news articles, Sleeping Giants is a thriller fueled by a quest for truth -- and a fight for control of earthshaking power.

this book tells me that Ancient Aliens speculations might actually be real.

I bought this book last year because I've been seeing it A LOT. It's scifi so there're no worries for me. When I found out that it's about giant robots, I'm like: how even? When I read people raving about it, I'm like: I MUST READ IT ASAP! When I finished it, I'm like: WOW, I need more books like this!

Some people can only see what's in front of them, others can see several moves ahead. -p91

11-yr old Rose Franklin was riding her bike on the evening of her birthday when she falls into a hole and found herself on top of a large hand. Years later, she was chosen to lead a team to uncover the mysteries of this hand, find its missing parts, and see how it works and how it can be used.

When I picked this up, I was expecting scifi, robot, and alien speculations. Sleeping Giants did gave me that and more. As I read this, my mind wonders over the idea of the current world actually finding out that actual Mobile Suit Gundam models exist and certain countries could use it as weapon or such. This book just made me think over things like the investment large countries put on war weapons as well as the idea of aliens -- their early interventions in our planet (thus the Ancient Aliens post introduction).

No one really wants to fight, but no one wants to be the one to back off either. It's a hundred times worse with military men, and a hundred times more so with politicians. -p136

I find it really difficult to talk about this book because I have NO IDEA where to start. Maybe I can start by saying that this book falls under the unique formatting books. Sleeping Giants is told in transcribed interviews, journal entries, and reports. It doesn't just allow you to speculate on where the robot parts came from but it lets you consider the identity of the narrator -- the one who gathers all these interviews, reports, etc. He was never revealed throughout the novel. All we know is that he gathers the people as well as holds all information about this project (later named as Themis Consortium).

Setting aside all talks on the robot, Sleeping Giants involves a dash a romance which I honestly did not expect. However, it didn't take over the story. The romance side was well written and how well incorporated in the development of the plot as well as the exploration of the characters.

The characters really grew in me. I LOVED all of them and I recommend Sylvain Neuvel for introducing, developing, and strongly putting the characters into me through interviews and journal entries. Many times I'd feel for them -- their anger, their worries, and such.

If you are a scientist you believe that it is good to find out how the world works; that it is good to find out what the realities are; that it is good to turn over to mankind at large the greatest possible power to control the world and to deal with is according to its lights and its values." -p167

I also like the politics involved in this novel. This was stressed well halfway through the story -- when things started going into roads I did not see. It involved interviews with the assistant of the president, talks on how the US can utilize the robot discovered, etc. It's equally thrilling and somehow thought-provoking and fast-paced.

OVERALL, Sleeping Giants is a highly recommended science fiction  complete with an unnamed narrator, political involvement, a dash of romance, and unforgettable characters! It kept me thinking over and over even after reading the last page (and ohmy, that cliffhanger! gotta buy book 2 soon!!!!).

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